Brand Manifesto: How to Create Yours

Brand manifestos are for mavericks, visionaries, and marketers on a mission

When you have a brand manifesto within, you know it.

You see what’s broken in your industry, what’s possible, and why your brand has to exist.

Your message feels urgent. Important. Too capacious for a value proposition. Infused with too much feeling to be expressed in your brand vision, mission, and values.

What you have to say isn’t staid or constrained but propulsive.

It’s your purpose dialled to 11. It’s your rallying cry. It’s a declaration of your intentions.

You know that when your brand manifesto is out in the world, it will attract and convert the people positioned to love your brand.

Investors.

Partners.

Buyers.

Donors.

Talent.

Your brand manifesto is what they need to hear to believe. To be inspired. To act.

The Day Of The Neutral Brand Is Over. This Is The Era Of The Manifesto Brand.

Of the brand with opinions. With bold expression.

To get noticed and win loyalty today, you need to stand up for what you believe. for your vision of change.

Whether you want to change the way people spend, think, feel, there’s no better time than now to declare it.

Your Brand Manifesto Amplifies Your Message

But That’s Not All. Here’s What Else Changes:

Your Visibility: People want to talk about, read about, and hear about brands with big ideas. A manifesto gets you more press, more invitations to speak, and more word of mouth. That’s all free marketing (simply as a reward for speaking your mind).
Your Platform: A brand manifesto is the source code for your content creation. Perspective is what makes content compelling for the right audience. It keeps your creativity alight, so what you produce feels fresh and necessary.
Your Alignment: Your manifesto is your North Star and your moral compass. It gives you clarity in times of uncertainty. So your team can make better decisions faster, even if you don’t have policies for every scenario.
Your Purpose: Your manifesto makes your purpose explicit. People on your team will start to see their work as a mission. You’ll feel more fulfilled when the daily grind is fueled by a clear and inspiring sense of ‘why’.

Only, Where Do You Even Start To Create Your Brand Manifesto?

Positioning your brand was hard enough.

Your brand messaging took blood, sweat, and tears.

So it’s not surprising if the idea of crafting a brand manifesto feels monumental.

That’s why you bring in someone who can see your brand objectively, distill your ideas, and create something coherent from your inspiration.

Generate Your Brand Manifesto Without Getting Lost In The Process

Your brand manifesto is a major piece of creative. It’s advertising. It’s strategy.

It’s either done like Apple or not done at all.

Which means it needs to be structured as a project and given the resources it deserves.

The ideas for your brand manifesto must come from your leadership and stakeholders, but you need someone with critical distance to get it to the finish line.

Conversion Copy Co has developed a collaborative, facilitated process for uncovering the manifesto within your brand. You’ll work with an experienced conversion copywriter, brand messaging strategist, and management consultant.

Here’s How We’ll Create Your Brand Manifesto

Conversion Copy Co’s complete services include three phases, from ideation to marketing.

1. Ideation: Define Your Message

Uncover your manifesto-worthy messages. Get clear on how to extend your brand tone and voice in a manifesto. Decide what your brand can stand behind with integrity.

Ideation is research, consulting & strategy.

2. Creative: Developing Your Brand Manifesto

Engage Conversion Copy Co to write your brand manifesto. We’ll take everything from the ideation phase and develop a piece of creative that amplifies and elevates the rest of your messaging.

Creative is a done-for-you service.

(Rather write it yourself? Get guidance instead.)

3. Marketing: Broadcasting Your Brand Manifesto

Time to take your tract to the streets and make some noise. Get advice on how to integrate your brand manifesto into your marketing and communications plans.

Marketing is a consulting service. We’ll help your team decide what to do to get the word out.

Why Create Your Brand Manifesto With Conversion Copy Co?

A client first introduced me to the power of a manifesto. Blair Enns made his fame by writing The Win Without Pitching Manifesto, a book beloved by creative service providers and consultants globally. It’s declarative, galvanizing. And from the time I first read his 12 Proclamations, they were never far from my mind.

That’s the power of a manifesto done masterfully.

Through Enns, I learned how to excavate a hero piece or manifesto from a brand’s positioning and messaging. And I found that writing brand manifestos brings together parts of my work I never thought would connect.

I’m a multi-certified conversion copywriter, brand strategist, and content marketer trained by Copyhackers, CXL and more.

Before founding my business, I was a Sr. Business Transformation Consultant to public sector executives. I helped leaders align their stakeholders around a shared vision, mission, goals, and plans.

I’m the author of The Facilitator’s Guide to Strategic Planning with Remote Teams (published by Lucid Meetings) and multiple training resources on leading collaborative, facilitated processes.

My Master’s is in Communications and Culture, which shaped how I think about media, ideology, and social change.

Straight out of university, I started my career in PR for global and national brands. (Amazon, Walmart, Holt Renfrew, Botox & more.) I wanted to be a part of positive change, so I left and didn’t return to the private sector until I discovered other entrepreneurs committed to people and the planet.

I’ve been a long-time messaging adviser to social enterprises and not-for-profits.

As a teenager, I was a closeted writer of free verse poetry, and before I could speak, I was steeped in persuasion.

Manifestos came naturally.

Here’s What Clients Say About Brand Manifestos & Consulting By Conversion Copy Co

“Goddammit, Bolton… I LOVE The Manifesto! It’s So Engaging I Want To Read It All. Glen Loves It Too. We Had The Exact Same Reaction. There’s No Other Firm With Something Like This That I’ve Come Across. I Know It Was Hard… But It Was Inspired.”
— Kelly Patchet, Quarterback Digital

“Anna gave form to a perspective we had trouble articulating for years!! The consistent reaction from our leadership team is, “Yes!! This is so us!”. The manifesto perfectly captured the essence of who we are and the rallying cry we’ve had on what needs to change in the UX field.

What looks like simple words on a page is really a distillation of Anna’s diligence and rigorous process. The process began with discovery. Anna then spent hours researching the industry and speaking with our leadership team and clients to tease out what makes UXReactor truly unique. In consultation with our team, Anna then proposed brand messaging concepts and wove the best one into the final manifesto.

As a company that prides itself on “first user, then experience, then design”, Anna’s manifesto is exactly that — deliberately user-centered. Anna is truly an expert in what she does. We are beyond pleased with our manifesto (and this comes from a group of recovering perfectionists).”

– Elinor Chang, Chief of Staff, UXReactor

“We hired Anna for a day of consulting on our pitch deck to raise series A funding from top-tier investors for our AI chip. I’m happy to say her strategies and feedback were instrumental in raising a US $20M funding round. Plus, we took away conversion techniques we’ll apply to all of our sales.”

– Darrick Wiebe, Untether AI

“Anna was incredible to work with, very pro in her copy DNA process and ‘weaponized’ us with the messaging our organization needed to write a new website, garner more donations, and raise corporate sponsorships.”

— James Woller, International Executive Director, Thrive for Good

“From research to writing to retrospectives, Anna is an absolute pro to work with. Her copy is great. And working with her is a dream – especially if hitting deadlines and producing fab work matters to you.”

— Joanna Wiebe, Founder, Copyhackers

“Confident, professional, and inviting, Anna combines her depth of experience and knowledge with an approach that will steer you in a direction you wouldn’t have considered, with a delivery you couldn’t have conceived, and to outcomes that you would have never achieved on your own.”

— Jamie Bruno, AVP, HR at Ontario Tech University

“I know Anna to be an exceptional consultant and leader who takes a results-oriented approach in all aspects of her work. At the Project Management Centre of Excellence, she established a reputation as a trusted advisor and respected consultant to senior executives. Her work involved facilitation, planning, and implementation of large-scale projects.”

— Peter Hoy, Director, Ontario Public Service

“Anna is an accomplished professional who ensures she is in a position to constructively challenge and connect with her clients. Her honesty and integrity are evident and as a result, she is a trusted advisor and consensus builder. As an excellent listener and communicator, Anna instills belief and confidence in the success of an undertaking with stakeholders. She nurtures collaboration and initiative that helps stakeholders develop solutions. If you are looking for results, I strongly recommend Anna.”

— Nick Stea, ADM and Director, Ontario Public Service

“Anna worked with me and a large group of executives. It was a difficult group and there were some challenges, but Anna maintained calm professionalism and guided us through our program flawlessly. I was extremely impressed… and I’m not easily impressed.”

— David Horie, Director, Internal Audit at Province of Ontario

Let’s Make Your Brand Iconic For Your Radical Purpose

Find out if our brand manifesto consulting and creative services are right for you. Book a no-pressure intro call and share why your brand needs a bolder expression of your point of view.